We couldn’t have a fire at our recent Men with Kids Bushcraft session due to the dry spell we’re having, but I wanted to still make a nettle something for one of our kids who loves anything nettle.
I decided to make a cake – not ground breaking in foraging circles – but so many people have asked for the recipe, I thought I’d try to cobble it back together since I made it without a recipe the first time – just my basic Magnolia Drizzle without the magnolia and with the nettle!
You can use nettle leaves from early spring to when they begin to flower, but at that point the leaves become hard on liver and bladder due to cystolithic crystals.
Nettle and Lemon Cake
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Keeper of the Kitchen
Serves: 24 pieces
Ingredients
- roughly 2 cups (like your coffee mug) of nettle leaves, squished into the cup.
- 170g white sugar
- 170g butter
- 2 medium eggs
- 170g self-raising flour
For the drizzle
- 5 tbsp icing sugar
- Juice of one lemon
- Small amount of water
Instructions
- Grease a non-stick cake tin and preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan, 350F).
- Blitz the nettles in a food processor till they're a pulp and have lost their sting. Set aside.
- Put the sugar and butter in a food processor and whisk till the mixture is fluffy.
- Add the eggs, lemon juice and nettles and mix till just combined.
- Add the flour and fold in gently to ensure the mixture doesn't fall flat.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and smooth out so that it's even.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. A skewer should come out clean when the cake is pierced.
- Add the icing sugar and lemon juice to a small bowl. The liquid should be pourable. If not, add a little bit of water - a teaspoon at a time - if needed to create a syrup.
- Stab holes all over the warm cake to allow the syrup access.
- Drizzle over the syrup and place decorative flowers on the cake, if using.
- Set aside to cool before serving.
